Prior to 1 March 2024, the Ombud Council exercised oversight over seven ombud schemes.  A 2021 World Bank review assessing the South African ombud system found that the system was fragmented and recommended simplifying it. Based on this review that was commissioned by the National Treasury and the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), the National Treasury released a policy paper “A simpler, stronger financial sector ombud system”, in February 2024.

In anticipation of these policy changes, the four largest industry ombud schemes proactively started working on amalgamating their operations. As a result, a new, streamlined industry ombud scheme, the National Financial Ombud (NFO), was voluntarily formed, consolidating the former Credit, Banking, Long-Term Insurance, and Short-Term Insurance schemes. The NFO has the same status as the four previous schemes; and was recognised as an industry ombud scheme by the Ombud Council under the FSR Act from 1 March 2024.

Now the Ombud Council oversees four schemes, making it much easier for financial customers to find the right scheme to deal with their complaints